Logistics (military)

Logistics make it possible for military units to be ready to fight, and have the materials to conduct and sustain the fight. Sometimes, in very informal military discussions, someone will offer a toast: "Amateurs talk tactics. Dilettantes talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics." Obviously, the toast was offered by someone with a bias toward logistics, but there is much truth to it. Strategy determines why to fight, the form of one's forces, and where to fight. Tactics defines how the fight is conducted once begun.

Napoleon is said to have observed "an army marches on its stomach", meaning that no army can function without a supply of food, and making sure that food is available, in adequate quanities, is a basic part of the supply discipline of logistics. A different discipline, transportation, ensures the food gets from the port where it arrives on a ship, to the cooks that will prepare it. Both operational procedures and research have places in research, just as combat forces have their rules on how to encircle a military force with a helicopter-borne (i.e., air assault) unit, logisticians worked out the procedure by which a short-ranged helicopter can be refueled at each jump closer to its target.

In the United States military, chosen here because it tends to write down more about the way it does things than any other military, logistics is:

The science of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of forces.

In its most comprehensive sense, those aspects of military operations that deal with: a. design and development, acquisition, storage, movement, distribution, maintenance, evacuation, and disposition of materiel; b. movement, evacuation, and hospitalization of personnel; c. acquisition or construction, maintenance, operation, and disposition of facilities; and d. acquisition or furnishing of services

— Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

NATO logistical doctrine recognizes each nation will have its unique approach, but "NATO's principles reflect the additional requirements of operating together in a multinational Alliance." NATO has a useful abstraction of the orientation both of the logistical aspects of obtaining, as well as delivery thereof.

Logistical resources	Logistical delivery
Production Logistics (also known as: acquisition logistics	Cooperative Logistics
Consumer Logistics (also known as: operational logistics)	Multinational Logistics

The primary manual on U.S. logistical doctrine goes further, and defines its scope as "the integration of strategic, operational, and tactical sustainment efforts within the theater, while scheduling the mobilization and deployment of units, personnel, equipment, and supplies in support of the employment concept of a ... commander. The relative combat power that military forces can bring to bear against an enemy is constrained by a nation’s capability to plan for, gain access to, and deliver forces and materiel to the required points of application across the range of military operations."

Logistical service	Functions that make logistics practical
Materiel	Contracting and procurement
Supply	logistical planning and research
Maintenance and repair	logistical planning and research
Transportation	distribution
Civil engineering	sustainment
Health services	procurement and contracting
Mortuary services	disposition and disposal
Explosive ordnance disposal	Budget and finance

History

Napoleon Bonaparte made significant advances in logistics. While he did not have a full general staff organization in the modern sense, he still had officers moving ahead of his armies, being sure they would have the appropriate resources from the local area, as well as weapons and other supplies from the rear. Napoleon's campaigns, however, were directed against the defeat of armies in the field. In the American Civil War, a major strategic emphasis shifted to destroying the enemy's logistics, destroying the ability of armies to continue fighting. In such a situation, Carl von Clausewitz would describe logistics as a center of gravity.

Changing centers of gravity from combat forces to logistics was partially the result of technological advances such as railroads and the telegraph. Another key aspect was the increased lethality of repeating and rifled weapons, such that a prepared defense could be nearly invulnerable to direct attack, as tragically demonstrated by Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Doctrine had not yet evolved to make use of breakthrough techniques, such as was seen by the failure of the Battle of the Crater.]

William T. Sherman attacked logistics in several ways, starting with the destruction of railroads and telegraph lines. Sherman's March to the Sea demonstrated destroying the means of production.

Classes of Supply and Support

There are some generally recognized categories, the management of which vary in the offense and defense. Additional special cases for retreats and pursuits are beyond the scope of this article.

Supply Class/Support Type	In the offense (maintain the momentum)	In the defense (sustain and increase the combat power)
I: Rations	Transfer ready-to-eat.	Establish food and water points. Break large shipments into unit loads.
II: General support	Low priority during movement but burst supply beforehand	Keep in brigade support area (BSA)
III: POL	Push forward to fueling points	Centralize by unit; have daily runs or as appropriate. Break up large volume; keep large tankers in the BSA
IV: Barrier materials	Usually not needed in the offense	Highest priority after ammunition
V: Ammunition and explosives	Push to ammunition supply point; tends to drop off after initial attack	Need is apt to increase. Balance ease of access versus risk of capture/destruction
VI: Personal demand	Low priority, but should be resupplied	row 1, cell 3
VII: Major end item	Need to arrive ready-to-use at exchange points	Need to arrive ready-to-use, with crew if necessary, at pickup points
VIII: Medical supplies	High priority, often in ambulances returning to the front	High priority, often in ambulances returning to the front
IX: Repair parts	Push forward to repair points; have forward teams determining requirements	Centralize in BSA and pull forward based on need
Maintenance support	As far forward as possible	Control centrally; do not risk capture of maintenance points
Medical support	As far forward as possible	As far forward as possible
Recovery & evacuation of materiel support	As far forward as possible	Avoid capture, destroying if no other choice. If not immediately repairable, evacuate
Transportation support	Under extreme stress in the offense. Avoid empty runs in either direction. Balance risk against need	Additional load of backhauling items not needed or unserviceable, without clogging the return lines

General versus direct support

When a support unit is put into direct support of a unit taking action, the support unit exclusively meets the need of the supported unit unless its own chain of command changes the assignment. When in general support of a larger unit, in principle, all sub-units receive equal support unless specific orders come through the chain of command.

Civil engineering and facility procurement

Beans and bullets do not last well if they are kept in the rain. Logisticians have to have transportation routes from the source of supply, to the warehousing and distribution points, to the supported units. Minimally, this means that things such as roads, airfields, docks and warehouses need either to be built by civil engineers (contrast with combat engineers), or perhaps it will be possible to locate, rent, and customize warehouses and other facilities.